DHAKA, Nov 12, 2022 (BSS) - About six crore men and women, children, adolescent boys and girls, and the elderly belonging to the country's 1.76 crore families are currently receiving various financial and non-financial support from PKSF for livelihood, primary health and nutrition, education, housing, climate risk mitigation, and women empowerment.

Besides, over 23 lakh micro-entrepreneurs are now receiving various financial and technical support from Palli Karma-Sahayak Foundation (PKSF) as it has expanded its activities to crop production, fisheries and livestock sector, said PKSF managing director Dr Nomita Halder at a press conference at Jatiya Press Club here today. 

"In efforts to modernise agriculture and ensure food security, PKSF has established a full-fledged agriculture unit. This unit works with rural communities to enhance production in crops, fisheries, and livestock sector," she said. 

Additional managing director Dr Md Jasim Uddin and deputy managing director Dt Tapos Kumar Biswas were present at the press conference organized on the occasion of the celebration of 'PKSF Day' marking 32 years of its establishment. 

'PKSF Day' will be celebrated tomorrow for the first time with the slogan 'Towards Development, with Equity'. As part of the celebration, PKSF will hold a programme at 'Krishibid Institution'. The government established the PKSF in 1990 with the aim of alleviating poverty through employment generation. 

Namita Haldar said although PKSF initially started its journey as a lending organisation, over the last three decades it has evolved into a family and people-centric sustainable development organisation. 

"Not only economic development, the main objective of PKSF is to establish human dignity for all, where training, employment, healthcare, education, nutrition, social inclusion, appropriate credit, special programmes for the disadvantaged segments of society are emphasized to improve the quality of life of the poor and ultra-poor people," she added. 

At present, about six crore men and women, children, adolescent boys and girls, and the elderly belonging to the country's 1.76 crore families are receiving various financial and non-financial support for livelihood, primary health and nutrition, education, housing, climate risk mitigation, and women empowerment.

PKSF's Environment and Climate Change Unit has been working to mitigate the impacts of climate change, she said, adding that along with providing safe drinking water through several plants in the coastal areas, PKSF is reaching out to the drought-prone northern regions of Bangladesh with sustainable technologies.

She said PKSF's future approach lies in the theme -- 'Towards Development, with Equity'. Equity lies in advancing the disadvantaged communities because the regional disparity is a major obstacle to development, she said. 

To achieve the Sustainable Development Goals by 2030, the barriers to sustainable development must be addressed, she said, adding that to remove these obstacles, PKSF has been working for sustainable development of the poor people since long before the official start of SDG implementation. 

Alongside the government, the World Bank, IFAD, JICA, UK government's FCDO, European Union, Asian Development Bank, and the Swiss Agency for Development and Cooperation are providing PKSF loan and grant support through 12 projects.